


Still Hurting

by spoilersweetie



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 23:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17110568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoilersweetie/pseuds/spoilersweetie
Summary: Set after 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' - that pesky ecto-spleen just doesn't want to go back where it belongs. Luckily the Tardis knows exactly what (and who) her Doctor needs.





	Still Hurting

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote most of this one ages ago, after the Tsuranga one because I was genuinely concerned about that ecto-spleen? She was visibly in pain throughout the whole episode and I kind of expected there to be a point to that but there just wasn't? Anyway... not sure what to do with this, I write such a lot of stuff like this and just never do anything with it but just going back through my stuff tonight realised how long this one was and thought it was probably substantial enough to post up... so thought I may as well in the hopes some of you enjoy it...

The Tardis was furious with the Doctor for leaving it - _her_ , Yaz mentally corrects - on the junk planet for so long. She hadn’t believed her to being with, about the ship being sentient - how could she!? It was a machine… and Yaz had sort of thought the Doctor was joking, but the longer they’d travelled which her it became very apparent that the ship did, in fact, have a mind of its own.

“Please let me in,” the Doctor begs, forehead pressed against the door. The Tardis is silent.

“What if we jimmy the lock?” Graham suggests. “You got a hair pin Yaz?”

“Why don’t you just use your sonic on the lock Doctor?” Says Ryan but the Doctor shakes her head with a growl of frustration.

“There’s nothing wrong with my key. She’s just… angry with me.” She huffs. “Can’t blame her - I would be too. But I didn’t leave you here on purpose!” She says to the closed doors. “I promise! Got blown up by a sonic mine and taken halfway across the galaxy on a med ship.” She gives a groan when the doors remain closed and slides down to kneel on the floor, hunched over a bit.

“Doctor?” Yaz worries, stepping closer to her. “You alright?”

“Fine!” She says, lifting her head quickly. Yaz isn’t convinced. She thinks that injury’s still bothering her - not that she’d admit it. She turns to the ship to give it a try.

“Look we really need to get inside. The Doctor tried to protect us from that sonic mine and she’s hurt herself more than she’ll admit -”

“I’m _fine!_ ,” she quickly insists from the floor.

“- And we’ve had a bit of an ordeal and we all really need to rest...please?”

A few seconds pass before - finally! The lock clicks and the door creaks open.

“Yes!” The Doctor jumps to her feet. “Yasmin Khan you are brilliant!”

She feels her cheeks flush a bit as she follows the Doctor inside.

“I see how it is,” the Doctor grumbles at the ship. “Favouritism is it?”

The Tardis hums softly around them before the door closes behind Ryan, the last one inside, and the engines roar to life.

“What the -!?”

\--

The Doctor says the Tardis is still punishing her for leaving her, but Yasmin thinks the ship knows her Doctor better than she knows herself, and has taken them into the vortex and switched her engines on to standby because she knows her idiot timelord needs to rest.

“Come on,” the Doctor growls at the ship. “France! France is safe - 31st century - I really fancy one of those iced croissants. I won’t leave you again I promise! Park you right by the cafe and won’t let you out of my sight. Please!?”

Silence.

She jabs at a button before pulling the lever down hard. Then up, then down again, then again -”

“Doctor,” tries Yaz -

And again -

“Maybe you should -”

Then again, until finally the Tardis apparently has enough and the Doctor jumps back with a yelp, cradling her hand.

“She shocked me!” She exclaims, affronted.

“I don’t blame her really Doc, you were about to break that thing,” Graham motions to the lever.

“Well maybe if she stopped being so _stubborn_ ,” she snaps at the machine.

“Maybe it’s out of fuel,” suggests Ryan.

“She doesn’t run on fuel,” the Doctor says, jabbing at the buttons, apparently getting increasingly frustrated, darting around the console to try the other side. Yasmin notices the hand pressed to her side as she moves.

“Doctor.” She says carefully, “Why don’t we leave France for another time? We’re all pretty knackered; maybe we should get some rest?”

“Rest!? You can’t need to rest we’ve been asleep for four days!”

“Yeah I’m fine,” shrugs Ryan, and Yaz shoots him a pointed look. He frowns at her, confused, and she points to her side and then nods at the Doctor who has her back to them as she irritably taps away. He shrugs like he doesn’t understand and she rolls her eyes.

“Fine!” The Doctor finally snaps, tearing them from their silent exchange. “ _Fine_.” She turns to her friends with a sigh. “Looks like we might be here a while… better make yourselves comfy. I’m sure she’ll be out of this mood by tomorrow.” And with that, she skulks off into the depths of the Tardis.

“Where’s she going?” Graham says as they stare after her.

“Leave her,” Yaz halts the boys before they can follow. “Her injuries were worse than ours. She needs to rest even if she won’t admit it.”

“Oh right, do you think that’s where she’s gone?”

Yasmin shrugs and they look at each other, at a loss for a minute. “Cup of tea?” Suggests Graham.  

“Go on then,” says Yaz.

“Yeah why not,” Ryan agrees. “Too wound up to go to sleep right now.”

“Being attacked by a pting will do that to you,” Graham says. “And there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.”

They all start to make their way towards the kitchen - when the sound of a phone ringing halts them. They all look at each other in bemusement, then the Tardis console where the ringing is coming from.

“Err… you ever heard that ring before?” Says Ryan.

“No,” Yaz replies. “Who could even be calling - aren’t we like… in the middle of space?”

“The vortex, that’s what the Doc said.”

They all look at each other again.

“Should we answer it?” Ryan speaks up.

“But it’s the Doc’s phone…” Says Graham.

“She ain’t here though!”

“I’ll answer it,” Yaz decides over their bickering; it’s clearly not going to stop ringing until someone does and she strides purposefully over to the console and picks it up.

“... Hello?”

“Hello?” A female voice replies, sounding just as confused as Yaz.

“Er… who’s this?”

“What do you mean who’s this? You called me!”

“What - no I didn’t! The Tardis phone just started ringing!”

“The Tardis?” Recognition fills her voice. “Put the Doctor on,” she orders, suddenly all business.

“Er… the Doctor’s… not here right now. Sorry, who are you?”

The other end of the line is quiet for a moment. “The Tardis wouldn’t have called me unless there was a reason - send me your co-ordinates.”

“Um…”

“Never mind, just hold the line for a minute…” Several seconds pass before she speaks again. “Got it.” The line clicks dead, and then there is a knock a the tardis doors. They all look at each other, Graham shrugs and Ryan raises his eyebrows at Yaz, who rolls her eyes and hurries over to the door to swing it open.

A woman brushes past her, slamming the door behind her and striding purposefully up to the console.

“Hold on - what - who are you!?” Yaz hurries after her. “...Were you just on the phone?”

“Where the hell did she come from!?” Ryan asks Graham, mouth open. “We’re in space!”

Graham just shakes his head.

“Yes, it was me on the phone; the tardis must have called me.”

“You what?”

“And usually, that means…” She glances around with worried eyes. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“I think she went to her room,” Graham speaks up, and the woman’s head whips round to stare at him like it was the strangest thing she’d ever head. Was the Doctor sleeping _that_ much of a rarity?

“Right,” she says, after a moment’s pause, then spins on her heel and sets off to the corridors. They all stare at each other for a moment before hurrying after her.

“Wait - !” Yasmin says as she jogs to catch her up. “Who are you!?”

“A friend,” she says, shooting her a reassuring smile over her shoulder, but Yaz can see the worry in her eyes. “The name’s River, and don’t worry, I’m here to help. You know the Tardis wouldn’t have called me if I wasn’t. And you lot are?”

Realising she’s right, Yasmin falls into step behind her, quickly pointing round. “Uh - Yaz, Ryan and Graham. We…”

“Travel with the Doctor, I gathered. Down here,” she opens a door, going through to another corridor and down a flight of stairs.

Graham leans in as they all hurry after her. “Seems like she knows where she’s going anyway…”

A few more turns and they reach an oak door. The woman - River - pauses before knocking.

“Doctor?”

Silence from the other side.

“Doctor are you in there? I’m coming in.”

She pushes open the door, which opens to a spacious bedroom with dark blue walls and minimal furniture. Yaz gasps when she sees the figure lying in the middle of the floor, curled on her side.

“Doctor!”

River stops her with an arm out, approaching the Doctor calmly.

“Sweetie?” She says, crouching down next to her and placing a hand on her forehead.

_Sweetie?_

The Doctor stirs, blinking at the woman.

“River?”  
“Yes, I’m here. What happened - are you hurt?”

“How are you here? You can’t be here… can’t know me… do you know me?”

“Doctor. Focus,” she snaps over her confused ramblings. “Are you hurt?”

“What? No, no I’m fine. Are you really here?”

“You’re fine? Is that why you’re collapsed on the floor?”

“M’not collapsed,” she mumbles back, “just resting my legs.”

“And what’s wrong with the bed three feet away for that?”

She thinks for a moment. “Too soft.”

“Uh huh,” says River, running her scanner over the Doctor.

“Is that another sonic? Like the Doctors?” Says Ryan.

“No it’s rubbish,” says the Doctor before River can answer.

“I’ll let that slide because you’re injured. There’s something not right with one of your organs,” she says, frowning at her scanner. “Can’t tell which one though, I need to get you to the med bay to do a proper diagnostic.”

“Because your sonic’s rubbish.”

“Not a sonic.”

“It’s my ecto-spleen. Doesn’t wanna go back where it belongs.”

River frowns at her, sitting back on her heels. “And you thought you’d lie here on the floor and just hope it sorted itself out?”

“Something along those lines, yeah.”

River sighs, but Yaz can see she looks concerned. “Come on, we need to get you to the med bay,” she beckons them over to help and Yaz hurries to the Doctor’s other side, squatting down and placing a hand on the timelords shoulder.

“Doctor can you stand?” Yaz asks her.

“Course I can stand, got legs haven’t I?”

River glances up at Yaz as she pulls her hand away, taken aback at her tone. “Don’t worry about it she’s always tetchy when she’s injured,” she tells her.

The Doctor rolls onto her hands and knees but only makes it halfway up before crying out in pain and collapsing back to the floor, clutching her side.

“Okay that hurts,” she hisses through gritted teeth as River catches her.

“You stupid man,” River mutters, her words cross but concern lacing her voice.

“Woman,” The Doctor corrects, panting as she presses her hand to her side.

“You’re still a stupid man,” River scolds. “Lying here in agony and refusing to ask for help. Honestly, if you weren’t already in pain I’d slap you.”

“Please do. Might take my mind off this.” Her fingers curl into her side, knuckles white.

Ignoring her, River looks up at them. “Help me get her up.”

“M’fine I can walk... just a bit dizzy,” the Doctor says to them before she passes out. River looks up, eyes landing on Ryan. “You - can you carry her?”

Yaz sees Ryan’s eyes widen. “What me!? What if I drop her?”

“There’s nothing of her - I’d do it myself but I need to monitor her heart rate, I don’t like these readings...” she says, frowning at the scanner again and Ryan looks panicked.

“We’ll all help,” Yaz interjects quickly. “Come on Ryan you lift her and I’ll take her legs.”

The Doctor wakes up again once they’ve got her to the med bay and River has pressed a button on the bed making a glass-like dome appear over her, presumably scanning her, readings coming up on the big screen in front of them.

“I don’t like these things,” the Doctor protests, frowning.

“Keep still, I’m trying to read it,” River mutters at her.

“What does it say?” Yaz asks anxiously and River bites her lip.

“She’s right, it’s her ecto spleen.”

“I know I’m right.”

“It’s out of position. Pressing right on her liver. No wonder you’re in pain sweetie.”

“Is that bad?” Graham worries.

“It’s not good. We need to get her to a hospital.”

“No,” the Doctor protests, brow furrowed. “No more hospitals.”

River glances up at them and Yaz clears her throat. “Long story.” River looks back down at the Doctor.

“You need surgery sweetie.”

The Doctor's eyes meet River’s. “You do it.” She says, and River’s eyes widen. She shakes her head.

“I’m not a surgeon.”

“But you know how.”

“Of course I know how _technically_ , it’s a simple procedure but -“

“You do it.”

“I can’t - let me get you to a hospital...”

She shakes her head, a frown on her face. “No I want you to do it. Please River,” she begs quietly, “please.” and after a moment of staring each other down River nods.

“Fine I’ll do it,” she says, pointing her finger at the doctor. “But if I kill you, it’s on your head.”

The Doctors lips quirk in a weak smile. “Didn’t stick the last time.”

Yaz has no idea what she’s supposed to make of _that_.

“Okay,” Says River, appearing to take a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll need some space.” Her eyes land on Yasmin. “Yaz was it? You stay - help me set up.”

“What are you gonna do?” Ryan asks worriedly.

“Her ecto-spleen is in the wrong place, it needs repositioning back where it belongs.”

“You’re gonna cut her open!?” Yaz says in alarm.

“Don’t be absurd. Medicines advanced far beyond what you could imagine in your future. I don’t have everything here but...” she brings up a big screen on the wall. “Ah. Yes this will do.” She turns to them.

“Boys, can you fetch some blankets? And tea, because she’s bound to ask for that sooner or later.”

“And biscuits,” mumbles the Doctor.

Looking alarmed, they hurry from the room to do as she’s asked and River turns to a wide-eyed Yaz.

“Right,” she says. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

\--

The Doctor lays on the table, shirts rolled up round her ribs and white wires connected to the skin of her abdomen in about thirty different places with little plates on the end that seemed to glow. River stood nearby, a huge hologram of... Yasmin wasn’t sure what it was exactly - she was trying not to look - but she guessed it was the inside of the Doctor’s abdomen.

River had tried to explain the procedure but Yaz has only really grasped the basics: what River did on the screen, the wires connected to the Doctor somehow did to the inside of her body... there was something about electromagnets and pulses and micro robots... honestly Yaz hadn’t really wanted to listen to the specifics, she was already feeling a little faint after watching River inject said micro robots into the Doctor’s stomach.

“How’s she doing?” River asks as she concentrates.

“Good,” replies Yaz, eyes on the monitor displaying the Doctor’s vitals River had told her to watch. The duel heart rates was _bizarre_ , and the left one was beating much faster and more erratically than the right but River had assured her that was down to her body trying to repair itself, and fine so long as the right one kept its steady rhythm which was the one controlling the oxygen rates in her body anyway. She didn’t ask how she knew so much about the workings of the Doctor’s biology.

“How are _you_ doing?” She asks.

“Fine,” says River, carefully tapping at the screen. “Almost got it.”

Yaz glances into the Doctor’s sleeping face. “She’s gonna be right cross that you knocked her out,” she says.

“Oh yes,” replies River, sounding amused. “I know she said she wanted to stay awake but believe me there is _no_ way she would have kept still while I did this, and the consequences of her wriggling about at the wrong time are far too dire to risk. Not to mention she would have tried to direct me through the whole thing.”

Yaz smiles. “She would, yeah.” She glances at River curiously. “You seem to know her pretty well?”

There’s a pause before River replies. “You could say that.”

Yaz opens her mouth to expand on the question but River taps a button and the screen flashes green. “Done!” She proclaims. “Everything back where it belongs,” she turns to flash Yaz a smug grin. “All in a day’s work.”

“And she’ll be alright?”

“Back to her delightful self in a couple of hours I’d imagine.”

Yaz looks down at her as River moves over to start disconnecting the wires. “Wow,” she utters, marvelling at this futuristic version of surgery, staring at the Doctor’s skin; not a blemish left behind. “How do the robots get out?”

“They dissolve,” River tells her, and Yaz frowns.

“What - they’re still in her stomach?”

“For now yes. Shouldn’t take more than a few days.”

“They won’t do me any harm,” comes the Doctor’s voice and Yaz looks down at her, startled.

“You’re awake,” Yaz says with some surprise. “That was fast…”

The Doctor frowns, blinking. “Yes…” she says, forehead scrunched in thought. She gasps. “You let her knock me out!”

“Me!? It wasn’t me - I didn’t even know she was gonna do it! She said you wouldn’t keep still otherwise.”

The Doctor grumbles to herself, glaring at River as she plucks out the last wire.

“How do you feel?” Yaz asks to distract her.

She gives her a weak smile. “Ready to go for a jog I reckon.”

“Dream on sweetie,” mutters River. “I’m not letting you out of that bed until you’re fully healed.”

The Doctor grins at her. “So close,” she says, her voice weak and tired, “to the perfect sentence.”

River pauses with a handful of wires, her eyes catching the Doctor’s with a smile, like the words hold a meaning between them.

The Doctor glances down, struggling on the bed to sit up so she can scrutinise her abdomen.

“Woah, careful,” Yaz says, gently but firmly pushing her back down. “Pretty sure you need to rest.”

“I wouldn’t bother,” says River, long suffering as she goes about clearing everything away.

“Feels good,” says the Doctor, prodding at her side with her fingertips experimentally. “All back where it belongs!”

“You’re welcome,” quips River.

The Doctor points to something at the end of the bed. “Pass me that thingy,” she says to Yaz, who reaches over to pluck it from its holder.

“What is it?” she says, turning over the white device in her hands before handing it to the Doctor.

“Just checking…” she mumbles, running it over her stomach before peering at the little screen on the front.

“Checking up on me,” River rolls her eyes as she moves over to stand beside the Doctor.

“Operation review.” She hands it to River with a grin. “Perfect, see? Knew you could do it.”

Looking a bit pink-cheeked for the first time since Yaz had met her, River sets it aside and sits down on the bed next to the Doctor. “Well, you’re lucky,” she says brushing off the compliment.

“Yeah, I am,” the Doctor says softly, smiling up at River, and Yaz doesn’t think she’s talking about her spleen. She clears her throat, getting up from the Doctor’s side to start putting away all the monitoring equipment for something to do, suddenly feeling a little like she was intruding.

“How are you here?” She hears the Doctor ask River, quieter.

“The Tardis called me. It’s a good thing you’ve got somebody to look after you - heaven knows where you’d be if you were left to your own devices. Refused to rest after it happened I bet?”

The Doctor shifts awkwardly in the bed. “There was a pting. And a bomb.”

River pulls a face. “Nasty things. How did you get out of that one?”

“Fed the bomb to the pting.”

River pauses. “That’s quite brilliant.”

“I know.”

“Modest as I ever I see,” she quips, and Yaz smiles as she tucks the equipment away back in the white cupboard.

“You’ve regenerated,” says River to the Doctor after a pause between them.

“How could you tell?” Quips the Doctor and River chuckles. “What do you think?” Yaz thinks she sounds a bit shy… which is so unlike the Doctor she has to sneak a glance, to see her looking up at River with wide eyes.

“Hmm I wasn’t in the market for a wife but I think I can work with it,” River replies, and Yasmin drops the heart monitor in her hands.

The both look over at her as it clatters to the floor, and she apologises, hurriedly picking it up.

“Sorry… did you say _wife_?”

River glances at the Doctor. “Still not telling them about me I see?”

The Doctor shifts on the bed, looking guilty. “It’s… complicated, I’m…”

“It’s alright,” replies River with a nod, “I think I understand.” She glances at Yaz. “She always was the private type, even when she was a man.”

Yaz opens her mouth and closes it again, not knowing what to say to that.

“Look at you now,” River says, eyes on the Doctor again, roaming over her form. “You’re so _small._ And skinny again.” She smiles at her. “It’s not fair.”

“You’re beautiful,” the Doctor says immediately and Yaz averts her eyes, feeling out of place in the room as the Doctor lifts a hand to River’s face. “Perfect River Song.”

“It’s the medicine talking sweetie,” Yaz hears River smile.

“It speaks the truth.”

“Oh, you’re a romantic this time around.”

“Always for you.”  
“And a flirt.”

“Only for you.”

Yaz clears her throat again. “I’m gonna - go find Graham and Ryan. Let them know you’re alright,” she says, feeling the need to leave them alone. It’s _weird_ to see the Doctor like this… weird, but undeniably sweet. To think all this time she had a _wife_ she’d never thought to mention! Yaz had to pin her down about that later when River wasn’t around.

She hears River mumble something to her, voice low and flirtatious and the Doctor give a gasp of delight.

“I’ve not done that in this body yet! I wonder if it’ll be different.”

“I expect so,” River says dryly, and Yaz hastily shuts the door behind her.

\--

The Doctor glances at the door as it closes, leaving her and River alone. She reaches up a hand to River’s face.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she tells her earnestly. “Thank you, for coming. For…” she points at her abdomen and River reaches out to smooth a hand gently over it.

“It’s been a while since you’ve seen me, hasn’t it?” River says softly after a moment, glancing up at the Doctor who avoids her eyes.

“A… while, yes,” she says carefully. “And you haven’t seen this version of me before.” She voices the question as a statement and River shakes her head.

“Shall we do diaries? I’ve just done -”

“No,” the Doctor stops her quickly. “No diaries… not this time.”

River tilts her head curiously. “Breaking your own rules, sweetie?”

She gives her a weak smile. “Love a broken rule, me.” She gives a yawn.

“You’re tired,” River says. “Your body still needs to fully recover.”

“Not tired,” she replies stubbornly. “Just been asleep.”

“And anesthetic is not the same as sleep,” River rolls her eyes.

The Doctor shuffles over a bit on the small bed. “Lie with me,” she pats the space she’s made next to her, and River toes off her boots and swings her legs up, shuffling to lay down on her side, facing the Doctor. She watches as River slowly lets her eyes trace over her form, taking her in from head to toe, her fingertips of one hand steadily following the trail. They reach her stomach and her hand settles there, tugging her rolled up tops back down to cover her but remaining beneath them, gently resting on her skin.

The warm touch feels pleasant at first, before the skin beneath her hand heats up, until it was more of a persistent heat, that spread from her touch through her belly and down… _oh_. She wriggles a bit on the bed, then reaches out with a hand to cup River’s face, moving in until her lips press gently against River’s own.

It has been _so long_ since she’s felt her wife’s lips against hers - so long since she’d kissed anyone for that matter, and she shuffles herself closer to her on the bed, twisting onto her side so the length of her body is pressed against River’s as she lets out a low moan into the kiss, opening her mouth so her tongue can brush against River’s.

The heat that had started in her belly is now setting her whole body alight and her legs tangle with River’s as she tries to get even closer, until a thigh slips between hers and she gasps, hips rocking into the pressure.

“Sweetie, we shouldn’t -” River breathes against her mouth, but the Doctor kisses her again before she can say anything else, hand snaking beneath her shirt and up to squeeze her breast through her bra, and it’s been _centuries_ since she’d felt River’s body against her own and suddenly she can’t get enough. She shoves a hand down the front of River’s tight trousers, revelling in the startled gasp her wife gives against her lips before she moans, low and hoarse into the Doctor’s mouth, arching into her touch. And then River’s hand is moving, up to cup one of the Doctor’s breasts, wriggling beneath her bra to touch flesh that sets her hearts racing, pushing her onto her back and rolling with her, hand moving purposefully down, back down over her stomach -

“ _Ouch!”_ The Doctor jumps as a shock of pain jolts through her, forcing her mouth to break from River’s and fingers to falter.

River withdraws her hand quickly and slides off of her, panting. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“No, no I’m fine!” She insists. “Just pressed a sore bit - the rest of me’s fine!” She reaches for River again, but she holds her at bay.

“You just had surgery sweetie and I am _not_ about to undo all my work,” River tells her firmly and the Doctor deflates, pouting at her.

“What if I keep _really_ still?” She tries.

River raises an eyebrow at her. “Honey, _no_ version of you has even been any good at keeping still at the best of times, never mind while we’re doing _that.”_

“You could tie me down?” She suggests.

“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“I’d have to keep still then!” She proclaims, reaching for River again.

“Doctor, stop it,” River says with a laugh as she grabs her wrists. She holds them between them with one hand, reaching up with the other to brush her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear and letting her fingertips trace over her ear cuff. “You need to rest. Give yourself a few hours. Then we can talk about this.”

“Only talk?” She smiles cheekily, glancing at her lips.

“We’ll see,” River smiles back.

The Doctor’s smile fades as she searches River’s eyes with her own. “You’re not going to leave are you?” She asks quietly.

“Without helping you take your new body for a test drive?” She smirks. “Never.”

“Maybe I’ll just shut my eyes for a little bit then,” the Doctor relents, suddenly feeling a wave of fatigue wash over her that she knew was her body’s way of telling her she did indeed need to rest. “Give me an hour or two,” she says sleepily, “Then I’ll be ready to go.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” River smiles, running a hand through the Doctor’s hair.

She opens her mouth to reply - something smooth and flirtatious - but feels stars prickle at the edges of her vision and her head swim peacefully as sleep claims her.

\--

When she wakes up again River is sitting on the bed next to her, wearing a smile and her underwear - and dangling a pair of handcuffs from her finger.

“What was that you said earlier about tying you down?”

 


End file.
